New Life Fund
The New Life Fund was launched in July 2019, working alongside Charles Watt, a former High Sheriff of Norfolk, the Department for Work and Pensions and HMP Norwich. The purpose of the fund is to improve the life chances of prison-leavers and help them to have a ‘New Life’.
What is New Life?
The New Life Fund aims to provide small grants, delivered at pace, to help recently released prisoners in Norfolk on their journey towards employment.
What can New Life support with?
- Training and Education – funding can cover courses, certificates and essential learning that helps individuals to build the skills employers are looking for.
- Transport for Work – support is available for bus passes, mopeds, bikes, or other essential travel costs needed to get to work.
- Accomodation – grants can help with upfront housing costs such as deposits or initial rent, making it easier to secure safe and stable accommodation.
Importantly, this fund has been established to pay for items that cannot be funded by other agencies.
Who can apply and how?
Prison-leavers in their first two years of release, who are resettling in Norfolk, are eligible to receive support through New Life.
Applications must be made by an approved organisation, including: Probation, the DWP, Action Community Enterprises CIC and Hope Into Action. Individuals in need of support should consult with their probation officer in the first instance, or another organisation they are being supported by. The panel welcomes the opportunity to support other Norfolk-based organisations that are working with former offenders, so please get in touch if you work with former offenders in need of support from this Fund.
Grants of up to £2,000 per New Life participant are available and can be allocated across multiple items if required.
Individuals who are enrolled on the Gateway to Employment scheme are also currently eligible to receive support via New Life, ensuring they have support to move into work and sustain employment. Please speak to your work coach for more information.
Why was New Life established?
Charles Watt, a former High Sheriff of Norfolk, recognised that there were several agencies involved in supporting former offenders but that additional funding and a much more collaborative approach to providing support was needed.
Those released from Norfolk Prisons often need support at different points along the pathway – whether to secure short-term housing, gain training and qualifications, secure independent longer-term housing, prepare for and secure employment – all with the aim of helping them to turn their lives around.
The New Life Fund was formed, with a panel of agency representatives, to help secure the additional, flexible and immediate funding required to support prison-leaver along this pathway.
“Norfolk is a very fortunate county, blessed with a considerable number of statutory and voluntary organisations dedicated to helping former offenders establish a New Life. It is hugely beneficial both for the individual and for the county as a whole that we make every possible effort to help individuals to resettle into the community after release from prison. One of our key aims is to bring together all of the charitable support that is available, providing funding quickly when the need is urgent or when it falls outside statutory criteria.”
Charles Watt, a Former High Sheriff of Norfolk
Interested? Talk to Corrie
